"Now leave, and let me work," the woman barked, pushing Nathaniel through the door. I could tell straight away that he wasn't too happy about that.
"My name is Jacaba. I'll wash your feet first and then apply a balsam that will heat up your veins. It will heal much quicker."
"Okay," I breathed out. Jacaba was the oddest healer that I’d ever came across and I kept wondering what her story was. When something in witch’s life didn't go how it supposed to and she went through some sort of emotional breakdown, she turned into a hag, that’s why I was curious.
She disappeared in the bathroom then brought hot water and started to clean my feet along with the rest of my body. She was muttering to herself the whole time, and I kept feeling magic evaporating through her fingers. Her touch was gentle but when she started to extract pieces of glass it freaking hurt. After I was cleaned up I saw the extent of my injuries. In my head I was trying to go over and over what happened to me that night. The clock on the wall was showing four in the morning. My dad had probably already got the call about the mermaid. The entire police department was after me. Nothing was going as it was supposed to. It looked like I killed that girl while I wasn’t lucid. When my magic took over I lost a piece of me, my own soul, the darkness was taking over.
I clenched my teeth as the healer started applying the balsam. My feet were already sore and now my legs were burning like hell. Once the magical balsam was on the hag took care of my forehead. My stomach heaved when I thought about that troll and what would have happened if Kelsie and Michael hadn’t shown up.
When she moved over my forehead, she was still whispering; her eyes were strange, wide and clam. My magic was flaring up, tossing my insides up and down. Soon enough I drifted off to sleep after the healer promised that I wouldn’t have any dreams. Also, before I closed my eyes she leaned over and said:
"That man out there loves you, but he’s greedy and possessive. You’ll never get enough of him, so you must let go."
I wanted to reply that it was all my fault. I just had to make a decision. He wanted to cancel his engagement for me, and I needed to let him do it. Theses lies had gone too far. Sometime later I drifted off.
It was the middle of the night when I woke up. For a brief moment I had no idea where I was, but memories washed over me like a waterfall in the mountains. The sheets smelled of lavender and all my muscles ached. I was still in the hotel where Nathaniel left me with the healer. My energy picked up, long annoying tingles of magic started moving down my body.
"I want to know what happened to you in the past few hours."
The voice startled me; it came out of nowhere boiling my blood with fear. I sat up seeing Nathaniel sitting in the chair next to the bed bare chested. He was holding a glass of Scotch in his right hand.
"How long have you been sitting here?" I asked knowing that when I avoided answering, he’d get mad.
Indeed, he narrowed his eyes taking a long deep breath like he was trying to calm down, the vein in his neck throbbed dangerously fast.
"Julia, this isn't a joke. If you force me, I’ll call your father and then you’d have to explain it to him," he said placing his glass on the side table. He got up and, in the darkness, I tried to picture his body, admiring his chest as memories of us in my bathroom flashed through my mind.
Nathaniel sat on the bed next to me.
"Okay, fine, I’ll explain but please don’t get mad at me?"
"Too late, I'm fucking furious with you, not that it matters." He shrugged, touching my hand. Why did it always have to be so hard being around him, listening to the sound of his voice?
"Just calm down and I’ll explain. I started having blackouts a couple of months ago, the first one happened when I was with Quentin…"
Nathaniel wasn’t saying anything, but he grew more and more agitated as I was talking about my magic, about Jennifer, Ella and then finally getting to last night.
When my voice started shaking he climbed into the bed with me and pulled me to his chest. For a moment I was seeing flashes and the body of that girl. I was the one who chased her.
"This is beyond what I imagined. Why didn't you mention anything earlier when we—"
"Fucked?"
"Yes, when we had the best sex of our lives," he added with a tone of amusement in his voice.
"We can't keep seeing each other anymore. I have to talk to Quentin and you to Meredith. We are good together, but I could be arrested anytime soon and charged with multiple homicide," I hissed.
"I'm going to call Meredith now and tell her about us and you’re going to do the same, then we will deal with the rest," he said and reached for his phone by the dresser.
"No, no and no. I can't deal with this right now. If I don’t control my magic my mother is going to die. I’ll kill more people who are close to me."
Nathaniel sighed.
"In that case, let me talk to those guys who are teaching you. They aren’t doing anything to stop this from happening. You nearly died today, and I can’t imagine what that old bastard, Gordon, would’ve done to you."
A cold chill raced over my spine when I thought about those stone-cold vampire eyes. Something turned inside my stomach when I thought about staying in his hands a moment longer. I was lucky, really lucky.
"No, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the training, so you have to pretend that you don’t know anything. It’s not only about me, it’s also about Ella!"
"Stop stressing and let’s go to sleep. You need rest," he growled pulling me down to the bed. His body was attached to mine and I felt his erection, so I couldn't even think about sleeping.
"We won’t have sex even if I really want to, you’re injured."
Somehow, I managed to fall asleep, anxious that maybe the next time I’d wake up, I’d be somewhere else, killing another person. For some reason I didn’t dream and in the late morning I opened my eyes feeling much better. There were still some scratches on my feet, but my energy was back. It felt like Nathaniel was the one who energised me. The air was charged with magic that circulated throughout the room igniting my body. He was asleep snuggled next to me.
This was what I always dreamed of when I was near him, to wake up in the morning in his arms. My heart thumped faster, and I knew that even though I was the dirty mistress I was still in love with him. For many days after he left for Geneva I kept telling myself that we were never compatible. Elf and vampire; no one ever heard about relationship like that ever working out, but now the differences didn't matter. He came to my rescue.
The smell of lime zest and lemon caused an eruption of those old emotions to swirl inside me again. And then just like that, a light switch, my desire was back, and I wanted him more than anyone else. The raw feelings were splitting my soul, our closeness was slowly killing me. We were meant for each other against the odds and other paranormals.
I tried to move slightly not to wake him up, but a loud gasp escaped his lips and he started gently kissing my neck. We were spooned against each other closer than we’d ever been, but I wanted to be the one who could take control.
Instead of letting him lead me or listening to my reasonable voice that screamed for me to end it, I dove beneath the covers and started kissing his stomach. Guilt was still there making me aware that if I was going to head down this path, then things between us were going to be even more complicated than they were now.
"Firecracker, what are you doing to me?" He moaned as I sucked on his nipples moving my hands over his warmth chest. I was drunk, just being there, tasting him again. Then my lips brushed over his stomach while my hands moved over the waistband of his boxers. He growled saying something in his native French.
He was fully erect, and I needed to have him inside me, but I wanted to pleasure him, knowing that the time we had together was limited. I pulled down his boxers and started running my tongue over his hardness, gently at first. The waves of heat and magic swirled over my body, increasing the pulsation between my legs.
&
nbsp; I took him into my mouth tasting the saltiness.
"God, I'm going to explode, Julia.” He moaned as I started moving my head up and down licking the head of his cock, then taking his length in my mouth. I was more turned on by him being in a state of ecstasy than ever before. He lifted his hips and I continued to lick and suck. His hands pushed my head down and I took it all.
When he was close I lifted myself from beneath the covers and continued giving him a hand job until he exploded. I grabbed the tissue box from the dresser and cleaned him up, shaking with anticipation of what would happen next.
He stretched his long arms.
“You're going to regret that, in a good way, my firecracker." He pulled me towards his chest. "We need to get rid of these."
He was talking about my panties and before I could protest he pushed me on top of him, his breathing was heavy, and he encased me in his arms; our bodies were sticky with sweat. It was glorious.
He kissed me violently to the point where my lips became swollen. His hardness was positioned near my core, but his hands began moving over my back. Sparks of magical energy began floating over my exposed skin. Nathaniel squeezed my breast. My breath was short as his tongue dipped inside my mouth.
He turned me around and dove into my breasts, kissing and nibbling my nipples. I cried out hearing something explode but I didn't care, because his hand was moving between my legs.
“Don't worry, I'm just getting started," he said with a wicked smile and then thrust two fingers inside me; his thumb began circling my clit. My head started to swim, and I moaned as fire exploded inside me.
My energy ran through my body making my skin supersensitive. The heat between my legs kept growing and I tried to breathe, but I couldn't stop thinking he was going to make me come.
His lips were on mine again and I panted feeling an approaching orgasm, but he withdrew his fingers.
"What are you doing? You’re an arsehole," I shouted. A whacky grin appeared on his flushed face.
"Shhhh, stop being impatient. I’m planning to fuck you all day long until you beg me to stop," he whispered and with his knee, he spread my legs and trust himself inside me. Nathaniel wasn’t a man who made me wait for my pleasure; he started slow moving inside me.
Many more orgasms later I fell asleep, exhausted on the bed, drenched with sweat and soaked in his scent. The room smelled of sweat, sex and blood. He drank from me, but only a mouthful, controlling himself like he was supposed to.
We lay naked next to each other high on love, knowing that this couldn't continue until we came clean. The sneaking around was killing us both. It was late afternoon when Nathaniel ordered room service and forced me eat the most delicious breakfast.
"I have to go home today, I’ve been here since last night and Quentin’s probably left me tons of messages," I said stuffing my face with fresh eggs and toast. For the first time I had a chance to take a closer look at the room: cream carpets, large bed and pink wallpaper. Nathaniel had chosen wisely, staying away from a place where he would be expected to stay. He stood from the bed and put his boxers and jeans on. His hair was way too long, and I thought that yet again I was completely and utterly in love with him.
Chapter 23
Waiting game.
Nathaniel insisted I stay until the evening. I didn't have to be at work until Wednesday. His phone kept ringing, but I noticed that he kept sending the calls to voicemail.
"She keeps calling you, doesn’t she?" I asked trying to keep the sound of jealousy out of my voice. I tried to imagine how Quentin would react when I revealed to him that I’d been sleeping with my ex-boyfriend, who was also a client.
He didn't reply straight away, and his silence only confirmed it.
"I'm ready to talk to her, but you keep telling me to wait," he said sounding angry. I bit my lip, telling myself that he should just tell her. I didn’t know what I was waiting for.
"Yeah, but Quentin should know the truth before anyone else. What I’m doing to him is completely unfair.” I sighed remembering how kind my giant truly was and the way he always wanted to make me happy.
Nathaniel was silent for a moment. I could sense his anger before he finally spoke.
"All right, I think you should let me talk to those guys. What if they’re using your energy, only pretending they’re trying to help?”
I was surprised when he didn’t disagree with me about Quentin. Maybe he finally understood that we both needed a bit more time.
"And what are you going to tell them? Oh, yeah, I fuck Julia from time to time and those training sessions aren’t helping at all, huh?"
"I say, look into their backgrounds, find out if they’re really who they say they are, then you should talk to your father. Ask some of his men to leave a police car outside your apartment."
"You’re joking, right? My father has no idea what kind of mess I'm in," I hissed, folding my arms together. Nathaniel touched my hair folding it around his finger.
"In that case, I’ll hire someone, and stop arguing. Gordon won’t let his people forget that you got away. For some reason he wanted to keep you and he caught your scent."
"He doesn’t know who I am and in order to avoid blackouts I’ll spend every free evening I have training with Tron and Alex."
"You do what you want but if you think I’ll stand by and watch your magic kill you, then you’re wrong. I love you and I know you think it’s too late for us, but I was a coward before."
“It’s not like that. I love you too, it’s just that I’m afraid I might hurt someone and when we’re together my magic explodes. We have to do this delicately and ending a relationship over the phone isn’t right. We went about this all wrong.” I put my head in my hands wishing I could start things over.
Nathaniel wrapped his arms around me, removing my hands from my face, then tipped up my chin so we were eye level. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help you and if that means we have to wait, then so be it. But my heart belongs to you; it always has.”
In that moment, my heart skipped a beat. I knew he was right and we’d had a connection since the moment we met. Regardless of what happened between us, we were always drawn to one another. We just had to figure out how to do things the right way this time around.
“All right, but you have to understand where I’m coming from. Breaking up with someone over the phone is just cruel. Quentin and Meredith deserve better than that,” I paused taking a deep breath looking into his hazel eyes. “When the time is right, we can start over. I don’t want to hurt them any more than we already have.”
After our talk, Nathaniel finally agreed to wait for me to get my blackouts under control. He said he would be there if I needed him and I only needed to ask for his help. I still felt guilty that we were sneaking around, but at least we now had a plan. I was going to tell Quentin about my affair in person and not take the chicken shit way out by calling him on the phone. I just had to find the right time once my blackouts were under control.
Nathaniel dropped me off two blocks from my apartment but walked me partly the way there just to be safe. Quentin’s car wasn't outside my apartment and for some reason I felt a sense of relief. I felt agitated walking up the stairs still afraid someone would snatch me up. As soon as I got inside I found my phone. I had several missed calls from Quentin and Kate. My stomach tied itself in knots and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to lie to Quentin any more than I had to.
Then I heard a loud knock at my door and nearly jumped off my feet.
"Come on, Julia, it’s Kelsie. Open up!"
My heart was in my throat and for a second there I thought I was going to have to call my dad. I unlocked the door and Kel entered, fortunately for me, she was alone.
"So, you’re alive? Great, thanks for letting me know. Now I can leave," she shouted.
"Hey, hold on, I just walked through the door a minute ago."
She placed her hands on her hips eyeing me suspiciously. She was stunning as usual, although she looked like s
he’d run all the way to my apartment.
"What? What do you mean? Where the hell have you been since Sunday night and why did my boyfriend call your ex to come and rescue you?"
I understood Kelsie’s questions and if I was going to talk about this to someone other than Nicky, Kelsie was the girl. I opened my mouth to start my pathetic story when she slammed her hands over her face.
"Oh, my God, you’re sleeping with him!"
"Kelsie, listen you need to sit down. The situation is very complicated."
"Julia, no. Please tell me I'm wrong? From our pack, I'm the one who sleeps around, not you? I mean, that was before I met Michael, but you’re good, kind and you kick arse," Kelsie shouted moving around like a lion. "Why would you do this to Quentin?"
Okay, this wasn’t going the way I had planned. It was easy to predict that Kelsie would ask questions about Nathaniel. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
"Come on, you need to come in. We can't talk like this," I said closing the door and pointing at the sofa.
Kelsie sat on the sofa talking loudly under her breath and I only hoped that she wouldn’t mention anything to Kate.
"Well, I'm listening. What happened to you?"
"I didn't plan it. He kept stalking me and I kept saying that he made a mistake. Then I went away for a romantic weekend with Quentin, but he had to leave, and Nathaniel showed up." I started explaining feeling a chill spread over my spine when I recalled our first meeting. "He barged into my hotel room and said that he’d been in love with me all this time, but he was too afraid to admit it."
Kelsie shook her head.
"Julia, come on. He chose another woman. What does that tell you?"
"God, Kelsie, please stop judging me. I fucking love him, all right, and I can't help it, even if he isn't right for me. Sometimes we love people who are destructive and wrong, even if we have to fight against our feelings."
"You two are never going to be serious enough to end up together. If you don’t end this, he won’t stop stepping on your toes. One day, you’re going to wake up but then it’s going to be too late, because La Caz will be your obsession and you won’t let anyone else in."
Elf's Affection: The Witching Hour Series Book 3 Page 18
